Come to our Democratic Presidential Candidates' Forum at SEIU on Dec. 12 at 7pm

Written by: Carol Olszewski on Nov 26, 2007 7:54 PM EST

Linked to groups: Democracy for the Hudson-Mohawk Region

Hello, everyone!!The race for the Democratic primary is heating up!! Who do you support??  If you haven't decided or want to cheer on your candidate, our DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES' FORUM is for you!!
We will hear representatives on behalf of the Democratic Presidential Candidates (and maybe Ron Paul) speak about their positions on issues and then we will all have the chance to ask questions and express our own views!! At the end we will take a straw poll on which one we prefer. 
DFHMR members traveled to New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, Ohio and Florida to campaign for President in 2004- let's see which candidate we will support in 2008.  Come to:
SEIU  (155 Washington Ave near Lark in Albany)
WEDNESDAY, DEC 12 at 7:00PM- ALL ARE WELCOME!!
(We are still finalizing our choices for speakers for Edwards, Dodd, and Biden (Paul??) so if you know someone who is a well informed representative, let me know

PHONEBANK FOR ANDREW WHITE OCT.30 AT CITIZEN ACTION

Written by: Carol Olszewski on Oct 28, 2007 7:51 PM EDT

Linked to groups: Democracy for the Hudson-Mohawk Region

Andrew White, our wonderful longtime past President, is running for Supervisor of Stephentown, a small rural and very Republican town in the 20th CD. He heeded the call of Howard Dean to run for local office and became a member of the Town Council of Stephentown-now he is making the turning of Stephentown blue complete by running for Supervisor! Let's all come out and help Andrew in this very important and symbolic election.

Come to Citizen Action at 94 Central Avenue, Albany, at 5:30 or as soon thereafter as you can get there this Tuesday, October 30, to phonebank for Andrew. Let's help him win!

Carol

Added by Julia Marden, DFA:

You can RSVP for this event here:  http://dfalink.com/event.php?id=24789

FUNDRAISER FOR DOUG BULLOCK WED, AUG. 8

Written by: Carol Olszewski on Aug 6, 2007 7:51 AM EDT

Hello, everyone!

Remember the man with the bullhorn exhorting us to call out at all the area peace demonstrations, labor marches, and progressive rallies and then handing out flyers about more events and progressive issues?  That was DOUG BULLOCK and now is is running for Albany County Legislator in District 8!!! He has supported us and helped us in all of our causes and political campaigns and now it is time for us to help him.

He is having a fundraiser Wednesday, Aug. 8 from 6:30-9pm
at Lori Zwicker's residence on 857 Myrtle Ave., Albany
(left on N. Main and left on Myrtle).
There will be food and beverages served. Donations of $10 to $50 are encouraged.
Doug is endorsed by DFHMR, Citizen Action, Working Families Party and the Capital District Labor Council. He is in a very competitive three race in the Pine Hills, etc. District of Albany.

Fight the Albany Machine and help Doug who  is for Accountable Government, Rehabilitation of Abandonned Buildings and Homes, a Single Payer National Health Care System, and an End to the War in Iraq.

Call Doug at 426-0883 to help on his campaign.
If you cannot attend, contributions can be sent to Friends of Doug Bullock, 77 Benson St., Albany, 12206.
I hope to see you all there!!

Carol
Some will be heading over to the fundraiser after the action event handing out literature for our candidates at the Empire State Plaza (meet at 5:30 near the Dept. of Education steps on Madison Ave. on Wednesday)

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GOTV for Kosiur for Assembly-July 31 Election

Written by: Carol Olszewski on Jul 26, 2007 11:29 PM EDT

Linked to groups: Democracy for the Hudson-Mohawk Region

All are welcome to attend- you don't have to be a member of Labor!!!  This is a very close race- we must get out all Dems to vote.  If we want to change the overlapping Senate seat to Dem we must hold this Assembly seat!

Carol

Final GOTV Push for Special Election AD 105 - Kosiur for Assembly
Labor activists all over Schenectady and Montgomery Counties have been working hard for weeks to get our message out to union brothers and sisters and our neighbors about the Special Election in the 105th Election District. Ed Kosiur is running for the seat recently vacated by Paul Tonko. We have been making phone calls and knocking on doors, handing out worksite flyers and writing letters to ask for support for Ed Kosiur, labor's endorsed candidate in the race. Our efforts must continue this weekend through Tuesday, July 31st when we help elect Kosiur to the Assembly. Help is needed at both Kosiur Headquarters: 105 Clinton St in Schenectady and 194 Guy Park Avenue in Amsterdam. A complete schedule is attached for your information and to help you recruit volunteers.

Ed Kosiur has been on our side since he became a City Councilmember years ago and he carried that through to the County Legislature. Let's put him in the Assembly so he can continue that advocacy on behalf of working families all over New York. If you can give a few hours of your time please contact Kathleen Scales at 369-8081 or just show up at one of the sites. 

Get Out The Vote for Ed Kosiur

Work at both sites now to

Election Day, July 31st                                                                                                              

Thursday, July 26th

4 – 8 p.m.

Kosiur Headquarters

194 Guy Park Avenue

Amsterdam, NY

5:30-7:30 in Schenectady

Kosiur Fundraiser at the Stockade Inn

Friday, July 27th

4 – 8 p.m.

Kosiur Headquarters

194 Guy Park Avenue

Amsterdam, NY

Schenectady GOTV Door-to-Door

Kosiur Headquarters

105 Clinton Street

Schenectady, NY

Saturday, July 28th

10 a.m. – 5 p.m.

Montgomery GOTV Door-to-Door

Kosiur Campaign Headquarters

194 Guy Park Avenue

Amsterdam, NY

10 a.m.-5p.m.

Schenectady GOTV Door-to-Door

Kosiur Headquarters

105 Clinton Street

Schenectady, NY

Sunday, July 29th

11 a.m. – 8 p.m.

Montgomery GOTV Door-to-Door

Kosiur Campaign Headquarters

194 Guy Park Ave.

Amsterdam, NY

11 a.m. – 8 p m.

Schenectady GOTV Door-to-Door

Kosiur Headquarters

105 Clinton Street

Schenectady, NY

Monday, July 30th

Noon – 8 p.m.

Montgomery GOTV Door-to-Door

Kosiur Campaign Headquarters

194 Guy Park Avenue

Amsterdam, NY

Tuesday, July 31st - ELECTION DAY

6 a.m. – 9 p.m.

Schenectady GOTV Door-to-Door

Kosiur Headquarters

105 Clinton Street

Schenectady, NY

6 a.m. – 9 p.m.

Montgomery AM lit drop & GOTV

Kosiur Campaign Headquarters

194 Guy Park Avenue

Amsterdam, NY

Contact Kathleen Scales

(518) 369-8081

 

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DFA NYS CONFERENCE MAY 5-6

Written by: Carol Olszewski on May 4, 2007 8:11 AM EDT

Linked to groups: Democracy for the Hudson-Mohawk Region

DFA CONFERENCE May 5-6 BUFFET DINNER May 5 with Eric Massa

Everyone: Please try to attend at least part of the DFA CONFERENCE this weekend! As you can see from the schedule below, JIM DEAN, BO LIPARI, Sens BRESLIN and SCHNEIDERMAN and many others will be speaking as we shape the future of DFA.
A special event is the Saturday evening buffet dinner at 6pm with ERIC MASSA and special film:

SATURDAY EVENING a special BUFFET BANQUET at the Schuyler Inn, 575 Broadway, Menands. Just north of Albany. Cost, $15. 6PM cash bar. 6:30 dinner. 7pm Speaker and movie.
Speaker ERIC MASSA (Democratic Candidate for the NY-29 C.D.) Strong Iraq War Critic and fiery speaker.
Followed by presentation of TAKING THE HILL, a film by Brent Renaud and Craig Renaud about veterans campaigning to win seats in Congress. Film has excellent reviews.
For the Banquet, please RSVP to Carol at 330-0226


Here is the full schedule for this weekend's Democracy For New York Conference. DFA people from all over New York State will be attending at the SEUI Hall at 155 Washington Street in downtown Albany, near the state capitol building and Lark Street. This conference is FREE and open to all DFA members in the State of New York. Visitors are welcome.


Everyone who has attended these conferences will know they are worth the trip to Albany! This year's conference starts out with an address by DFA Chair Jim Dean. There will also be a special evening buffet banquet with Congressional DFA-List Candidate Eric Massa at the Schuyler Inn followed by the film Taking The Hill. This is a great opportunity to grow your activism and support a change in Congress!


For additional info and to RSVP, which we are really asking people to do, go to: www.dfalink.com/event.php?id=170...


Schedule:


Arrival and Registration
10 - 10:15 John McBride and Andrew White Welcome, Why are we here? Introduction
of DFA Chair Jim Dean


10:15 - 10:45 Jim Dean, DFA Chair


10:45 -12:45 Jennifer Wisniewski, Citizen Action, John Nonna, NY Democratic Lawyers Council, Bo Lipari, New Yorkers for Verified Voting


These three speakers will discuss the current status of their efforts to bring electoral reform to the state of New York. That is Clean Money Clean Elections, Election Protection, and Precinct Based Paper Ballots with Optical Scan. They will discuss what we can do to help with these issues. There will be a 30 minute open floor discussion or Q&A .



12:45-2 Lunch on your own


2-3 NY Sens Schneiderman and Breslin, Assembly Member Jim Brennan. The dysfunction of the NYS Senate and Assembly and what can be done.

3 -3:30 Brian Keeler: Four areas for reform. Rules reform, Election reform, Ethics reform and Budget reform.


3:30-4:30 Breakout groups We will break out into groups of about 10 to brainstorm on strategies to bring real reform to the NY State Legislature. After
20 minutes we will return with what we came up with.
Reassemble open discussion


4:30 - 6 Leadership meeting


Saturday Evening a special buffet banquet at the Schuyler Inn, 575 Broadway, Menands. Just north of Albany. Cost, $15. 6pm Cash bar. 6:30pm Dinner. 7pm Speaker.
Speaker Eric Massa (Democratic Candidate for the NY-29 C.D.) Strong Iraq War Critic and fiery speaker.
Followed by presentation of Taking the Hill, a film by Brent Renaud and Craig Renaud about veterans campaigning to win seats in Congress. Film has excellent reviews.
For the Banquet, please RSVP to Carol at 330-0226


Sunday May 6
9-9:30 Reconvene


9:30-10:15 Amy Little, Campaign Manager - John Hall for Congress What does it take to win an impossible race?


10:15-11:45 Take 19 All the strategies for winning important elections against entrenched incumbents


11:30-12:15 Patrick West, Sierra Club Global Warming. Patrick has an Al Gore trained follow up on Gore's oscar winning film An Inconvenient Truth.

12:15-1:15 Lunch


1:15-2:00 Break out groups Iraq War
Green Issues
Election Reform
State Government Reform
Presidential politics
Congressional Politics
Growing the Grassroots


2:00 Reconvene full group. What should DFNY be doing in 2007? Where are we going in 2008 and beyond? Create a plan for the structure of DFNY

Write up: courtesy of Larry Dudley

With additional exhortations by Carol Olszewski

Canvass in Dutchess This Saturday and Sunday

Written by: Carol Olszewski on Oct 25, 2006 9:04 PM EDT

Linked to groups: Democracy for the Hudson-Mohawk Region

This is the last weekend before the final Get Out The Vote effort!! It is very important that we canvass remaining areas of the District so that we will know who to target for next weekend and Election Day. We will be heading down to Dutchess both Saturday and Sunday of this weekend. We will leave Stuyvesant Plaza (in front of Starbucks) at 9:30am on Saturday and on 11am on Sunday. We will head down to Rhinebeck and then to nearby communities to canvass.

Try to make it for at least one day, maybe both days of the weekend. This is the final stretch- ALL OUR ENERGY AND EFFORT ARE NEEDED TO BRING VICTORY HOME AND TO CHANGE CONGRESS AND THE DIRECTION OF OUR OWN COUNTRY- TAKE IT BACK!!!

Carol
(518-330-0226)

Bill Clinton at NYSUT with Kirsten on Thursday

Written by: Carol Olszewski on Oct 24, 2006 9:35 PM EDT

Linked to groups: Democracy for the Hudson-Mohawk Region

The location for Kirsten's rally with Bill Clinton has been changed to NYSUT headquarters at 800 Troy Schenectady Rd in Latham. Rally is at 9am. Doors open at 8am. Thursday, Oct. 26.

We have two tables full for the luncheon with Rahm Emanuel on Thursday at 12:30 in Albany. We have until noon tomorrow (Wed) to add more reservations. Tickets $100. Thank you all!! Email me at C100bank@aol.com or call me at 518-330-0226.
Carol Olszewski

Luncheon with Kirsten and Rahm Emanuel this Thursday in Albany

Written by: Carol Olszewski on Oct 22, 2006 9:46 AM EDT

Linked to groups: Democracy for the Hudson-Mohawk Region

In her final area fundraiser Kirsten is having a luncheon with Rahm Emanuel, Chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, Thursday, October 26 from 12:30-2:00pm in Albany. I am sponsoring a table for the event. Tickets are $100 but partial scholarships can be arranged. Please contact me as soon as possible at c100bank@aol.com, 518-330-0226, if you are able to attend and if you would need a scholarship. Let's help Kirsten raise money to defeat the recent infusion of more than $400,000 by the Republican Campaign Committee in an attempt to bail out the floundering race of John Sweeney. WE WILL WIN!!! JUST 16 MORE DAYS TO VICTORY!!!

Carol Olszewski

Lit Drop Saturday at noon-Perspective on polls-race a toss up

Written by: Carol Olszewski on Oct 20, 2006 10:00 PM EDT

Linked to groups: Democracy for the Hudson-Mohawk Region

OK fellow agitators, organizers and rabble rousers--we're in the home stretch and a few more hours of volunteer work from each of us can bring so much joy to us and the country for months to come. In doing so, we will save ourselves lots of future aggravation, regret and the country much harm. If we get Kirsten and other Dems elected to Congress we can restore some balance and moderation to the federal government and stop the crazed radical right wing take over of our country and it's values.

Please try to make it to the Clifton Park Labor Walk/canvass for Kirsten tomorrow at noon at the Park and Ride on the West Side of the Northway off of Exit 8. If you can't make that, try to clear as much of your calendar for these final 18 days or so to help with phone banks, canvassing, literature drops and the critical Get Out the Vote Drive for November 7th. If you can't make any--get out your check book or credit card and make the biggest donation you can.

Your efforts these next few days can help ensure that the man W calls "Mr. Kick Ass" for his role in stopping the Florida recount with his goon squad get his own A-- kicked into retirement!!

New York Times has 15 races currently ranked as a "TOSS UP". Gillibrand is one of them. Go team Go!
www.nytimes.com/ref/washington/2...



Encouraging news from Zach!!

Volunteers and Supporters: We have a TON of momentum that has built in the last month and its only going to continue towards get-out-the-votetime in just over 2 weeks.

There have been a lot of polls that just hit the media the last week and the Sienna poll has gotten the most attention in the last 24 hours. I wanted to send a quick note to allay any worry about this poll showing a hard to believe 14 point lead for John Sweeney.

There are several reasons not to be concerned.



1. This poll was one of 6 polls released this week. It is the only one showing us down any significant amount. We are equally doubtful of the Majority Watch poll reported in the Times Union which shows up leading John Sweeney by 13 points.

2. This is the first year Sienna is doing congressional race polling. Unlike any other poll done this year, they over sample republicans based on a difference between what party people say they are affiliated with and how they are actually affiliated.

Think about how Oklahoma has twice as many registered Democrats as Republicans but there hasn't been a Democrat in a statewide office since the mid-70's. By Sienna's method of weighting, George Bush would have won the 20th congressional district in '04 with over 70% of the vote. With a 2:1 Republican registration advantage he only won it with 53%.

3. Most of all, the Republicans don't believe it! The NRCC, who tried to make us believe this wasn't a priority race for them are only now pouring money in to the race on his behalf. Both parties are spending upwards of $1 million on the race. No one is under the impression this isn't going to come down to the wire.


In short, with polls all over the map, the only one that matters is the free poll on Nov 7th. Thanks to everyone for all the great support. We're already at 3 times the campaign's initial goals for voter outreach for the entire campaign, making us the best organized operation in the state, if not the country. If you have been in to the office making calls you know what the true race dynamics are.

Keep making calls and knocking on doors and if you haven't singed up for GOTV action for the weekend before the election and on election day get in touch. You know i'll be calling.

Thanks again to everyone. Its going to be an intense 18 days but when all is said and done we'll have a true blue NY.

ZACH

--
Zach Hollander

Also carpool from Stuyvesant Plaza in front of Starbucks at 11am Sunday for canvass in Rhinebeck.
Carol

Canvass in Rhinebeck on Sunday- leave at 11am

Written by: Carol Olszewski on Oct 20, 2006 4:36 AM EDT

Linked to groups: Democracy for the Hudson-Mohawk Region

Gillibrand internal poll shows big gains in Dutchess due to our door to door efforts there! Let's keep up the great work of canvassing in communities that still have heard little about the race. The four polls out in the last three days have Kirsten down in one, tied in one, and ahead in two! We can win this race!

We will leave Stuyvesant Plaza in front of Starbucks on Sunday at 11am to carpool to Rhinebeck. We will leave the Rhinebeck office at 1pm to canvass all afternoon followed by some good food in the beautiful town of Rhinebeck. If you drive yourself, meet at the Rhinebeck office above the Department Store on the corner of Rte 9 and Rte 308 at 12:30pm. Only 18 more days to change Congress!!

Carol
518-330-0226